Yes, Metro Atlanta (beyond the city limits) is as bad as Kunstler painted and worse. The city itself has an adequate foundation for better development, whether or not Atlanta is made into a great city is up for grabs. Right now we have an infrastructure layout from pre-sprawl planning, but the fringes of our urban core have a kind of proto-sprawl planning. This follows, because our downtown pre-dates WWII and the city fringe to the city limits were once considered suburbs. Indeed, many present day parts of Atlanta were annexed into the city.
Atlanta's problems with planning stem from very poor race relations, which are still a significant problem if not the central problem. The city collapsed due to white flight long ago and now is threatened again by white gentrification. You seem to have some urban planning background, so I'll assume you're familiar with the impacts of an overly-enfranchised populations' withdrawl or insertion.
Atlanta's problems with planning stem from very poor race relations, which are still a significant problem if not the central problem. The city collapsed due to white flight long ago and now is threatened again by white gentrification. You seem to have some urban planning background, so I'll assume you're familiar with the impacts of an overly-enfranchised populations' withdrawl or insertion.